Not unprecedented : Australia's COVID-19 archives

This article makes the case for the liminality of Australia's COVID-19 epidemic. It acknowledges the distressing loss of life and periods of significant societal disruption and contrasts this with the relative success Australia has had in being free from unrestrained contagion. The liminality of Australia's COVID-19 experience is particularly discernible in the diversity of affective consequences the pandemic has had. In documenting elements of this liminality, the article reads various 'citizen writing' repositories, which it frames as Australia's emergent COVID-19 archives. These archives" read as texts" exemplify the diverse affective experience Australians have had of COVID-19. It shows how Australians have experienced much grief, anxiety and fear during COVID-19; but at the same time, Australia's COVID-19 archives reveals other emotions just as consistently: such as solidarity, humour, and care.